Monday night I spied a coworker of mine in our lounge at work eating lettuce wraps for dinner. Great now I was craving them, I needed to have them in my life A-sap. So I circled, like a hawk on its prey, waiting to strike. She’s lucky ’cause I was about to swipe one off her plate when she wasn’t looking… but she never turned her head. Drat. The only other option now was for me to make them for dinner… and so I did.

If I had to put my finger on what is it about these lettuce wraps that I love, I’d have to say it’s a tie between the crunch of the lettuce, the gingery-crunchy-sauciness… but mostly because I get to eat with my fingers… oh yeah, and they’re sorta healthy (always a bonus!). So as I walked around the grocery store that morning, I picked up things that I recalled having in my wraps in the past that I enjoy. Three words: Ginger. Cashews. Water Chestnuts. {seriously though, can we rename those already? Chestnuts… really?}

So I really hope you don’t mind another Asian inspired meal. I’m like a pregnant woman craving pickles and ice cream over these things. Well any Asian- inspired-what-ever-you-wanna-call-it dish, I want it, need it… love it!! I just can’t get enough. I’ve tried to give it a rest… for like a week.. and what-do-ya-know here I am… ginger, tamari… lettuce WRAPS!? And no I’m not pregnant in real life, unless it gives me permission to eat 4 of these… then sure, yeeeeeah… uh-huh, yuppers I’m pregnant. No really I’m not. (husband you can calm yourself right on down)

I’ve been in love with a case of Ball jars. I put everything in them… leftover dried noodles, coconut milk, a certain lemon-garlic aioli and they are SUH-perb for making salad dressings and sauces in. And now I was gonna make this ginger sauce in a jar. So I minced up two good size cloves of garlic and 2-1/2 tablespoons of fresh ginger {which is about an inch-inch and a half of ginger} and threw them into one of my beloved Balls.

Then measure and pour in the 1/4 cup rice vinegar.

…the 1/4 cup Tamari. If you have light soy sauce you could use that as well.

Then comes the two tablespoons of honey. I love adding honey as a sweetener… especially with the ginger… and tamari. YUM!

…And the half cup of extra light olive oil.

And a generous pinch of red pepper flakes.

Screw on the lid…

And shake what yo mama gave ya. That’s right… I said it.

Prepping the veggies only take a minute. Drain the water chestnuts and dice them up somewhat small.

Grate up a quarter cup of carrots. I just love sneaking veggies in food!

Roughly chop up 1/3 cup of cashews. I had originally bought these for something totally different and threw them in at the last minute. So, SO glad I did.

Okay, so I cooked up a couple pounds of ground turkey, you could use ground beef or chicken too! However today it was on mega sale {5.99 for 3#’s!) so I scooped it up.

Drain off the fat and add in the water chestnuts, carrots and cashews. Give that a few stirs and let cook away at medium heat for 5 minutes.

Shake and pour the jar sauce over top.

This picture doesn’t really do this justice. First off, because ground turkey is ugly. But I promise you this is so flavorful! I give it a taste and usually add a couple more tablespoons of tamari, but you can see how you like it.

Traditionally iceberg lettuce is the wrapper of choice, but I like romaine… hey,a few extra vitamins never hurt anyone, right?

ANNNND the flavors in these beauts are rockin’… so easy.. so freakin delicious. They totally put the kibosh on my lettuce wrap craving. I even have leftovers to bring to work for MY lunch break. BOOM.

Ginger Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Yield:makes about 10-14 wraps depending

Ingredients:

FOR THE SAUCE:

2 cloves Garlic, minced

2-1/2 tablespoons Fresh Ginger, minced

1/2 cup Extra Light Olive Oil

1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Tamari (gluten free soy sauce), divided

2 tablespoons Honey

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

A generous pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

FOR THE WRAPS:

2 pounds Ground Turkey, {Ground Beef or Chicken may be used instead}

1 container of Sliced Water Chestnuts, diced small

1/4 cup grated Carrot

1/3 cup Cashews, roughly chopped

1-2 heads of Romaine Lettuce, ends trimmed

Cilantro, roughly chopped {for garnish, optional}

Directions:

In a bowl or a good size jar, add in the minced ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, tamari, oil, honey, sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Shake well to combine all ingredients.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large pan and heat up over medium. Once hot add in the ground turkey and cook until done. Add in the carrot, water chestnuts and cashew, cook for 5-8 minutes. Pour in the jarred sauce and stir. Bring to a bubble, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Finish off with a couple tablespoons of tamari {more or less to taste} and spoon ginger-cashew filling into prepared romaine leaves. Serve with a little of the chopped cilantro.

I love lettuce wraps for precisely the same reason as you, plus the delightful head tilt needed to cram the wrap into the mouth. There's something so irresistibly primal about it. If lettuce can actually be primal. . . .

Water chestnuts are required in a lettuce wrap IMO So glad you included them! I, too, love my Ball jars – best dressing makers EVER! This recipe sounds delicious. I haven't made lettuce wraps in ages. Must change that!!!

I like using butter lettuce because it is nice and soft and folds easily. I also don't care for water chestnuts and whenever a recipe calls for it, I replace it with jicama. I am DEFINITELY making these for my next 'cocktails and a nosh' event. That dressing look heavenly and I LOVE ground turkey! Thank you!

OH! And I have a 'case' of Bell jars too! My sister in law sent me a ton of her homemade pickles a couple of years ago and I use them for a lot of things. I even use them on Brunch Sunday as water glasses! I soaked them in very hot soapy water overnight and that got the risidual pickle juice smell out of them. Even the dishwasher didn't do it, but the old fashioned soak did!

I have a favourite lettuce wrap too… I am def trying your s to taste the diference, but add a bit of coconut milk and natural peanut butter to your sauce and you will be amazed!!!!Thanks!Diane diane7@rogers.com

We just had this for dinner tonight,and it was amazing !!! We only made a couple minor changes (little more honey and sesame oil,little less ginger and soy).Added scallions instead of chestnuts(personal preference).When serving,we garnished with some of the components-carrot,scallion,cashew,and sauce,and the texture contrast was amazing that way.The various colors-especially the carrot-made it really eye catching as well.This will definitely be our go to recipe;thanks so much for sharing !!!

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Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours! (more)